Ledbury is all set to bloom after a £3,500 Lottery grant and as teams of volunteers plant and tidy up a variety of garden beds and containers ready for the summer season.
The grant is part of the Breathing Spaces scheme, to make the Riverside Park more attractive to insects and butterflies, and complements a BBC campaign for groups to improve their local environment and the natural habitat.
The Ledbury in Bloom Group is considering creating a spring meadow, with cowslip, lady’s smock and snake’s head fritillary, buckthorn shrubs to attract brimstone butterflies, woodland wildflowers and bulbs beneath the roadside tree belt, and building bird and bat boxes.
Members also intend to plant along the Town Trail to reflect its old railway nickname of the Daffodil Line, as well as near the edge of the bypass.
The grant covers new plants, equipment and sign boards, and the Group would like to hear from any organisations willing to help – contact johnusk@supanet. com for information.
Meanwhile, volunteers have planted the Top Cross troughs with fuchsias from Angela Thompson to welcome visitors from the Gloucester Road, weeding and planting is well under way in the Walled and Sensory Gardens, the Station beds – the latter by the WI’s Parkway and Ledbury branches – and the Youth Centre and Primary School.
Born Court’s gardens and the Homend Trading Estate will be on the Bloom judges route this year.
Ledbury’s Morepack Ltd has joined the campaign, and a selection of shops and businesses are filling new hanging baskets to join the array soon to appear courtesy of Ledbury Town Council and Roses Garden Centre.
The town’s roundabouts are looking neat and fresh thanks to sponsors and funds from Ledbury Civic Society and Sequani, while Herefordshire Council’s Parks Department and contractors Amey keep up with regular mowing and planting.
But Ledbury in Bloom will still have a shortfall on its modest expenditure, and sponsors are always welcome to help with the goup’s work. A team responsible for planting, weeding and composting tubs meets from 7pm to 8pm on Thursdays at the Walled Garden.
